


The Lonely Man of New York

by FinleyHerondale



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, Soulmates, statue!Magnus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 11:36:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18850282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FinleyHerondale/pseuds/FinleyHerondale
Summary: In the middle of New York stood the statue of a handsome man. And the legend said that if his soulmate touched his hand he would come alive.





	The Lonely Man of New York

**Author's Note:**

> Idea: writing.prompt.s   
> found on: @/daddariobws on twitter

“Alec, come on, get up here!”, Isabelle said.

She was standing on the platform on the left side of the statue with her arm around the its shoulders. Jace was posing on its other side. 

Legend said that the iron statue in the middle of the square would come alive as soon as his soulmate touched his hand.

That legend and the fact that the statue was weirdly handsome as far as statues went made it a popular photo spot for tourist. Alec wondered how many people laid their hand in the statue's in just a single day.

“The Lonely Man of New York" stood on his stone platform in the middle of Brooklyn. His expression was more or less emotionless, maybe a bit hurt. His hair stood up tall, he was young, his clothes looked unusually modern for a statue. Alec wasn't sure how old the statue actually was and he didn't really care.

Also no one really cared about the clothes the statue wore or how old it was. The thing everyone was interested in was the man's right hand, which he held out with the palm up in front of him. Everyone wanted to get a picture with their hand in his. Trying out if they would find their soulmate in a statue. A piece of iron. 

Alec shook his head at Jace and Isabelle who were apparently trying to find their soulmate as well. Jace was pretending to kiss the statue's cheek while holding on to the statue’s hand and Isabelle took a selfie with Jace in the background. Alec was pleasantly surprised that Jace wasn't actually stupid enough to give some public statue an actual kiss on the cheek.

“We are on mission", Alec said, annoyed at his siblings. He was kind of intrigued to try to touch the man's hand, just to be sure, but he would never show that. He would never try. Especially not with Jace and Isabelle here. Because what if the _man_ would actually come alive when _he_ touched him? Jace and Izzy would immediatly know. Imagine being outed by a statue. 

“Come on, we killed all the demons. And when else do we get to visit tourist spots?”, Jace said

“When have we ever wanted to visit tourist spots? They are usually full of people. And what do you want with a picture of you and some statue?”, Alec asked.

“Stop being such a buzzkill and get up here, Alec", Isabelle said. She had removed her arm from around the man's shoulders. 

“No way. This--", Alec made a gesture at their general direction, "--is stupid." Then he turned away from them. If they wouldn't follow he would make his way home to the Institute alone.

He checked the time on his phone. 2:11. They had only taken 20 minutes for the mission. But still, 2am was definitely not the time to take selfies with statues. In fact, there was never a good time to take selfies with statues. 

“At least take a picture of us if you don't want to come up here", Isabelle said. Alec rolled his eyes but he turned around and walked over to the platform where Izzy held out her phone.

Alec was about the take it, but then Izzy suddenly grabbed his arm with her hands and tried to pull him up on the platform.  
The sudden pull on his arm made Alec stumble, he automatically put one foot up on the platform and grabbed onto the statue to keep his balance. 

The mans finger felt cold under his. Until they didn't.

They started moving. The iron crumbled away around them, revealing skin underneath. 

Isabelle and Jace drew their weapons but were both watching fascinated as the iron crumpled away around the mans arm, then his upper body, freeing the man more and more.

Alec froze. 

The realization of what was happening had hit him around the moment when the men's elbow had come free of the iron facade. 

Legend said that he would come free as soon as his soulmate touched his hand. Alec was very clearly touching the mans hand and the man was very clearly coming free.

The iron was falling away around the mans knees and then they gave out, making the man fall directly on Alec. 

He reacted just in time to move, catch him and save him from falling onto the stone floor. The iron had now completely fallen away around the man and he was clinging on to Alec.

Alec looked down at the man's face. Without the iron around it it was even more lovely. The man looked back at him with dark brown eyes. He looked relieved and smiled.

They were both just looking at each other for a moment and Alec could feel himself blush. Then the man let go of him and stood up straight. 

“Uh…hi?”, Alec said.

“Hello", the man answered confidently. He brushed the rest of the iron that was still on his clothes off and straightened his collar.

“Okay, what the actual fuck is going on?”, Jace said from a few feet away. 

“That's a fine question", the man said and turned to Jace. “You see, I was cursed. My-- A demon cursed me. Turned me into stone--", he picked a piece of iron off his face, “--or iron apparently, until my true love would reach for my hand. That's were you come into play.” He made a flourish movement with his hand and pointed at Alec. 

_True love_. The words rang in Alec's ears. He wasn't sure how to handle the situation. There was definitely no way to keep his secret anymore. It was out. He was out. What now? What--

“So, when they say all the legends are true, they really mean all of them?”, Jace interrupted his thoughts. And he was glad that that was what Jace focused on. He looked at Alec. Alec, caught his eye, shrugged and then looked back at the man.

“I'm Magnus Bane. And you are?”, the man said.

“I'm, uh, Alec", said Alec. He held out his hand for the man to shake.

“You're a Shadowhunter", Magnus said as he noticed the marks on Alec's skin. He sounded confused. Or disappointed. Or scared. Or maybe all of the above.

“Is- is that a problem?”, Alec asked self-consciously. He let his hand sink.

“Shadowhunters are not very fond of us, are they?”, Magnus said, his voice took a turn from light to almost snappy. He held up his hand, blue fire lit up in it out of nowhere. 

Warlock. Alec's soulmate was a warlock.

Magnus face and in his dark eyes, that were piercing Alec, reflected the blue light. It made his face look dangerous in the darkness of the night. Though, Magnus eyes looked sad.

Magnus's defensive gesture spoke of hurt from the past. Alec wondered how many times this man had been hurt by Shadowhunters, Alec's people, the Clave before. And how disappointing it must be to find out that one's soulmate was one of those people. 

Suddenly he felt responsible for Magnus. He felt a responsibility to show him that there were other Shadowhunters than the ones he had encountered before. 

“We are not going to hurt you", Isabelle reassured Magnus.

Magnus let the blue fire in his hand extinguish. They all stood in silence for a second. 

“Okay, all of this is great and all and I'm very happy for both of you but we can't keep standing here all night", Jace said. He had clearly understood that Alec had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do so he took the lead and Alec was thankful. 

He was also thankful for Jace's reassurance.   
_I'm very happy for both of you_. He had clearly understood what this encounter meant. And he didn't care.

No, he did care, and he was even happy about it, fine with it. Maybe Jace had always known, just like Isabelle. 

“I suggest that we could all go to the Institute, iron man over here gets a room and we will figure this out tomorrow", Jace said.

“I won't sleep in your Institute, blondie", Magnus said. “I should still have an apartment not far from here.”

“Great, we can--", Jace started.

“Alec can bring you. Jace and I will head back to the Institute”, Isabelle said with a pleased smile on her face. 

“But--", Jace said.

“Walk with me, Jace", Isabelle said as she turned him around by his shoulders. 

Alec looked after them, then turned his head back and realized that he was alone with Magnus. 

He was searching in his mind for words. Anything smart to say. “We should- probably get-", he stuttered.

“This way, Alexander”, Magnus smiled at him and started going down the street. Alec followed with fast steps.

“Who are the people you were with?”, Magnus asked.

“My sister Isabelle and my parabatai Jace"

“Parabatai, huh?”

Alec wasn't sure what Magnus implied with that question and if it was positive or negative. 

“Yeah", Alec said.

They walked a few steps. 

“What year is it?”, Magnus then asked.

“2016”

“2016…”, Magnus sounded thoughtful.

“How long have you been a statue? And why did the demon curse you?”, Alec asked.

“About 20 years. And let's just say the demon and I have… some history. I didn't do as he pleased. So he turned me into stone. Until my soulmate would free me”, Magnus explained. He looked up at Alec as he spoke the last sentence.

Now that he had the man who apparently was his soulmate in front of him Alec questioned the word. What did soulmate even mean? Or true love? And how could the curse be sure that they were soulmates?

“Were you conscious all those years?”, Alec asked. 

“No. Not really. I sometimes felt things, but I'm not even sure if that was real. Until your touch. It was like the world got it's color back. I was able to feel again. Properly feel. It felt like I was finally free. So maybe I was conscious? Kind of?”, Magnus said.

“I’m sorry"

“It's not your fault. Quite the opposite.”

“What was the thing you refused to do for the demon?”, Alec knew that he should probably stop bombarding Magnus with questions. But he couldn't help it. He so desperately wanted to know more about him.

“There is so reason in keeping this from you, is there?”, Magnus asked. They stopped walking.

“Well, the demon that put this curse on me was my father. He desperately wanted to sit on the throne of Edom. But to push Lilith off that throne he would have needed my magic. I refused to help. He doesn't deserve more power. And then he tried to manipulate me", Magnus sounded hurt.

"He said that he as my father was the only person who could ever really love me. And that I shouldn't push him away because he was the only person who could ever love me. I still refused to help him. I said that there were people out there who could love me. And then, in his anger he cursed me. I think he tried to show me that he was right, that my soulmate doesn't exist. But here you are. You proved him wrong. He-- He hurt me so much over so many years. And I got free of him. And then he came back. Only to turn me into stone. But I was right. And you are here.” 

Alec could see in Magnus eyes that he was reliving horrible memories. Alec opened his arms and pulled Magnus into a hug.

“Yes, I am here", he said.

They stood there like that for a few moments, arms around each other. It felt new, yet familiar. 

Then Magnus let go of Alec and looked up at him.

He looked back into Magnus deep, lovely eyes. And he started to understand.   
Yes, maybe this was his soulmate. Maybe they could make this work.

“My apartment should be over there”, he nodded over to a building two blocks away.

They walked in silence, but not an uncomfortable one, until they reached the door. Magnus let himself in and Alec followed. They went up the stairs and Magnus stopped in front of a big double door.

“In theory, this should be it", he opened the door with his magic and Alec caught a look into the apartment. It was clearly outdated.

“Exactly as I left it", Magnus said as he stepped in. “Though, a bit more dusty", he drove his finger over the table and inspected the thick layer of dust that stuck to it.

Then he snapped his fingers and the apartment completely changed it's interiority. “Normally, I love a dirty layer but this one is just sloppy”, he said.

Alec couldn't help but be impressed.   
They both looked at each other. And then Alec realized that this was it. They had reached Magnus's apartment. Their time was over.

“Can I see you again?”, he asked.  
And at the same time he heard Magnus say, “Do you want to come in?”

“I mean, we could have a drink or two", Magnus added.

“I would like that", Alec said, stepped forward and closed the door behind him.  
Magnus poured them drinks and held one out for Alec. Alec took it. 

“To us", Magnus said as he held out his glass and the clear, high sound of glass tapping on glass rang through the apartment.

And thus “The Lonely Man of New York" wasn't lonely anymore. 

And the next morning people would notice that he was gone and it would be all over the newspapers. And the mundanes would come up with the most insane explanations for his disappearance.

Though the explanation was obvious: He had found his true love.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
